Inside the Mexican Suitcase: The Rediscovered Negatives of the Spanish Civil War by Capa, Chim and Taro
The Mexican Suitcase is actually a treasure trove of 4,500 35 mm negatives from the Spanish Civil War of the late '30s. Lost for over 60 years, the negatives were discovered in a suitcase in Mexico City in 2007.
Capturing harrowing images of war, and of ordinary people living in the Spanish towns and countryside held by the anti-Franco forces during the Spanish Civil War, the photographs are by Robert Capa, Gerda Taro, and David Seymour (known as Chim). These three photographers, who lived in Paris, worked in Spain, and published internationally, laid the foundation for modern war photography. Their work has long been considered some of the most innovative and passionate coverage of the Spanish Civil War.
Cynthia Young is the curator of the Robert Capa Archive at the International Center of Photography in New York City. She recently curated Capa in Color, which looked at Robert Capa’s color photography for the first time; a retrospective of Chim, We Went Back: Photographs from Europe, 1933-1956 by Chim; and in 2010 The Mexican Suitcase: The Rediscovered Negatives of the Spanish Civil War by Capa, Chim and Taro. All three exhibitions have traveled and continue to travel throughout Europe, Mexico, and Brazil. Her Athenaeum talk will explore the research process and discoveries of the Mexican Suitcase.
Fifteen prints and ten facsimiles from the Mexican Suitcase collection will be on exhibit at the Athenaeum starting in late March.
Ms. Young's Athenaeum talk and the exhibit are co-sponsored by the Athenaeum, the Rick and Susan Sontag Center for Collaborative Creativity, and the Mellon Presidential Roundtable on Creativity Grant.
Photo credit: Chim, [Two Republican soldiers holding a painting being inventoried at Las Descalzas convent, Madrid], October-November 1936; Estate of Chim, David Seymour/Magnum Photos; www.davidseymour.com
(Text adapted from npr.org and icp.org)
View Video: YouTube with Cynthia Young